Why is male cat being overly affectionate to kitten?

by Sandy
(North Wales)

I have an 8 yr old indoor male cat (neutered) who is always very affectionate with me in particular. We have had a kitten for just over 5 months (kitten now 7 months old) who was spayed 5 weeks ago. Normally my older cat will not have anything to do with the kitten and at time growls, hisses and bats the kitten. Yesterday morning the male cat was started yowling, which lasted all day and was hyper affectionate with everyone including my other two dogs (although he is normally friendly with them). But he is following the kitten everywhere, sniffing her rear end, then I noticed he pinned her down and started licking her face, head and ears. Today he is doing the same thing. He wants to be with the kitten all the time, even snuggling up in the same bed (never happened before, he normally won't sit near her. This is so out of character. He remains very affectionate with me and yowls to be picked up and cuddled. He is also continually purring. I phoned my vet who said this sounds like a 'mental problem, and to just see how he goes. He is eating fine and seems well - just hyper friendly and over affectionate with the kitten. I have always owned cats and have never seen anything like this before. If I didn’t know otherwise it seems like a Tom cat being affectionate with a Queen in season, but I know this cannot be. Can anyone give me advice please? What do I do? Do I just ignore it, as both the cats seem blissfully happy, but it seems too good to be true!!

Many Thanks Sandy
Reply
Hi
I tend to agree with the vet although I would not call it a mental problem but a behaviour issue.
I have heard of this before but as to what trigger it etc I don’t think it has ever been explained. It may be a smell or perhaps a temporary hormone imbalance.

The kitten is still growing and is probably giving off all sorts of smells as they develop and these smells can trigger certain reacts from other cats. Even male cats can respond in a motherly fashion.

My advice would be to just to keep an eye on them both for awhile and as long as his behaviour does not become aggressive I wouldn’t worry too much. My guess is that this is only a temporary situation.

Best wishes Kate

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male cat being overly affectionate to kitten
by: maryann

Hi Kate
Even though your kitty was spayed 5 weeks ago she will not have eliminated the smell of hormones yet she was probably in season or coming into town season as she was spayed I strongly believe this is the reason your older cat is behaving like this as this really doesn't sound like a behavioural problem at all if it's what I said you should notice things going back to normal in a month or two if not I would seek further help wishing you the best of luck .
typicaaly Siamese quality
by: Tommie M.

Siamese cats are very human oriented. They love human beings when they are nice to them. I have had three of them in my lifetime and I experienced almost the same as you did.
Even when she was 7 months old at the time and he was 5 years old. He had never lived with another cat and I was told by a Vet when I took Kit-Kat to see him for the problem. He was like a mother to her when she came into our home. She, too was a
Siamese kitty. I got her wwhen she was nine weeks old and the kitty would suck under this arm. He was always very affectionate with her after about one week. They didn't get along at first which I think is quite normal. After that, he was like a good mother. He would lick her all over like he was giving her a bath.He would watch her when she went to the litter box.
He was always talking to her like Siamese cats do; but when she was about7 months old, she came into heat. Kit-Kat had been neutered when he was six months old and he tried to mount her. Thatis why I took her to the Vets, not because of how much affection he gave to her, but because I didn't think He would want to do that because he had been neutered. The Vet told me "he took the crib and not the play pen. I had to get a tranquilizer until the kitty was passed her heat. But, Siamese cats are very affectionate and even the males help raise the kitties as long as they live in the same house as the mother cat.I hope this helps you.
Bonding
by: Kevin Johnson

At least they're bonding, that's a good thing and they may get along better after this.

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